Swede in crash of rare Italian car charged with embezzlement in L.A.

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LOS ANGELES — A Swedish businessman involved in the high-speed crash of a rare Ferrari on a coastal highway was charged Monday with embezzlement and other counts involving the alleged theft of a collection of exotic cars.

Bo Stefan M. Eriksson, 44, was scheduled to be arraigned later in the day on felony charges of embezzlement, grand theft and possession of a gun by a felon. He also was charged with two misdemeanor counts of drunken driving.

Eriksson, a former executive with the European video game company Gizmondo, imported two Enzo Ferraris and a rare Mercedes worth an estimated $3.8 million, prosecutors said.

The cars are owned by British financial institutions and leased to Eriksson, Deputy District Attorney Steven Sowders said in a statement. The lease agreement did not allow Eriksson to take the cars out of Great Britain, Sowders said.

Authorities contend Eriksson, arrested in early April, was behind the wheel of an Enzo Ferrari — one of only 400 made — when it wrecked Feb. 21 on the Pacific Coast Highway in west Malibu. The car crashed into a pole at 162 mph, totaling the $1 million vehicle.

Eriksson told police he was only a passenger in the car and that the driver was a German acquaintance he knew only as Dietrich. He said Dietrich ran into the hills, but a search by deputies turned up no one.

During a search of Eriksson’s house in Bel-Air, authorities said they discovered a handgun. Prosecutors said the weapons charge stemmed from a counterfeiting conviction against Eriksson in Sweden in the early 1990s.